On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:01:59 +0000, Mark Rand
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:01:12 -0600, Ignoramus689
wrote:

What was the most ill-conceived, unsuccessful, and worthless/expensive
DIY style project that you undertook (I would say without counting any
injuries as they could outweigh everything else)?


I'm afraid that it's got to be listening to my neighbour when he suggested
that we could clean up the corners of the pit that we had excavated for under
my workshop, by driving the mini-backhoe into said pit (water table is very
high in my garden). The result cost me a week's work about $3000 and a lot of
stress:-

http://www.test-net.com/workshop/day6.html

The pit does the job it was intended for, but is neither as big or as deep as
I had planned. If I were to do the job again under similar conditions I would
dig out trenches and immediately fill them with concrete and rebar before the
ground had a chance to move. Once the concrete was hardened I would excavate
the ground from the centre section, pumping as necessary to control water
ingress.

Mark Rand
RTFM

My cousins use that technique all the time. Pour a concrete ring,
sink it, excavate, pour more on top, keep going. My middle son just
started working for them and really likes it. I think and hope he's
found something worthwhile.

Here's their website showing the technique in use.

http://www.peltierbros.com/job_sites.htm

Pete Keillor